Colin Simmons, On3's No. 4 overall prospect, commits to the Texas Longhorns

Long has Texas sought 2024 Duncanville (Texas) EDGE and Five-Star Plus+ prospect Colin Simmons.

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Steve Sarkisian‘s program was one of the first few offers the state’s top prospect netted during his sophomore season in 2021. The hard work Sarkisian, Pete Kwiatkowski, Bo Davis, Jeff Banks and others put in during one of the cycle’s highest-profile recruitments paid off in earnest, as Simmons announced his commitment to the Longhorns in a ceremony at Duncanville High School on Thursday.

Simmons is ranked as the No. 4 overall prospect, the No. 1 EDGE, and the No. 1 prospect in Texas in On3’s rankings. The On3 Industry Ranking, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services, ranks Simmons as the No. 5 overall prospect, the No. 1 EDGE, and the No. 1 player in the state of Texas.

The 6-foot-3, 235-pounder made official visits to Miami on June 9-11, SMU on June 13-14, and Alabama on June 16-18 prior to Texas official visit held June 23-25. Even though programs across the country courted Simmons, the close-to-home future SEC school provided everything he was looking for in his commitment.

Simmons had been considered a battle between LSU and Texas for months with Georgia, Alabama, Texas A&M, Florida, Miami and Oregon on the peripheral. The Tigers were considered the favorite last summer and heading into the 2022 season. The Longhorns worked to close the gap behind a full-staff effort led by Sarkisian, Banks and the defensive staff.

The Longhorns also got a boost from a number of standouts from the DFW area on the Longhorn roster. Texas freshmen Johntay Cook, Malik Muhammad and Anthony Hill were all instrumental in helping push the Longhorns over the top.

Simmons commented on Texas on May 31 at the On3 NIL Elite Series in Nashville, an event where he said Texas and LSU were his co-leaders.

“Home,” Simmons said. “It’s home. I mean… my family, people from DFW that already graduated that goes there now: Anthony Hill, Johntay Cook, Manny (Muhammad) from SOC (South Oak Cliff). Just with me going up there, seeing them and doing what they are doing as freshmen, speaks a lot.”

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Excerpt from the Recruiting Notebook

How he fits at Texas: Everyone knows what to do with Colin Simmons. He’s an elite edge rusher, lightning off the ball and cat quick changing direction with long arms to help him fend off the hapless attempts to knock him off his preferred trajectories.

He’d play Buck for Texas, get on the field early on passing downs, and have the chance to pile up sacks and tackles for loss working off the wide edge in the boundary. You don’t really need a particular scheme or approach with Simmons, although perhaps some would serve him better than others, just position him on an edge and flip the switch to “on.” – Ian Boyd

Coach Says:

Strengths — Long arms. Exceptional balance and quickness of the snap. Great change of direction/agility. Top end straight-line speed very good. Will show good hip roll and sinks the hip naturally. Runs the arc aggressively with a natural swim or rip. Can win with with power or speed, but most highlights are the latter. Really effective converting speed to power. Stuns the blocker and has surprising hand/upper body strength. Active hands. Stays square the line against the run and aggressively boxes the end-man. Consistently keeps outside shoulder free. Closes the last few yards in a flash and wraps up consistently. A monster off the weak side. Is a sack machine for Duncanville breaking the single-season sack record and was Defensive MVP of the title game. See ball, hit ball.

Areas for Improvement / Concerns — Hard to find criticism here. Not sure where his height will end up and whether that means continued EDGE play or off-the-ball (You find a spot for him to play, regardless). Would do best to anchor and split double teams. Opponent film is still flattering, but some struggles when covered outside. Fight the urge to spin versus doubles or getting to wide running the arc.

Simmons joins Texas’ 2024 recruiting class and should help strengthen the Longhorns’ recruiting efforts within the Lone Star State and nationally with top prospects.